June 29, 2004
So I got a call from my parents earlier today and the left me a message that they'd try to call back later.
I saw that they had called from Gramma's house so I called that number back and got the news that my older brother's son had died shortly after birth (about and hour and 20 minutes).
So I left a message with Gramma for my parents to call me back and then decided to go out and mow the lawn.
So when I was finished, I saw that I had missed calls on my cell phone and voice mail on my home phone...from my older brother's cell. So I called back and left a message.
I took a shower, and called back and got my older brother back. One of the neatest things he said was that when Spencer (one of his boys) got near mommy and the baby, the baby would always squirm around more. And when Spencer held the baby for a short time, it was the only time that the baby opened one of it's eyes.
Even though I basically knew that this was going to happen (the odds considering the condition that the baby had were not in it's favor...even slightly), it all brings me back to when John Andrew died.
John Andrew had Trisomy 18 and lived for a short while ( a few days) before passing on. I was absolutely devestated back then because this was gonna be the brother that I was going to have a good relationship with... Maybe it's part of that welling up again, but I have been having trouble keeping a hold of my emotions...like I normally do.
I was chatting with Jen, who had a not so good day herself...and I had a realization...It was at that point where I think I lost my faith. I know I had always had doubts and had asked a whole lot of questions (even at 8 years of age) but I think it was that that made me doubt the whole belief system that I was raised with.
So I left to run some errends...to pick up a camping mattress for the weekend and to pick up some things at target (one of which, the Tide HE dye free detergent, I totally forgot). And I remembered that you could buy card tables at target...so I did...Now I have a dining room table...of sorts.
But I got back and had another message from my parents from grammas...but they were shortly headed back to cedar rapids...
So now, instead of camping all weekend like I planned, I'll be going to a funeral on friday. I guess it's all works out because I already took PTO for that day...and I don't regret going to the funeral either. Hyrum and Diane need our support right now and I'll give it to them in anyway that I can.Posted by SammyD at 9:36 PM | Comments (0)
June 27, 2004
So Jen and Dusty came and got me and we headed north near Bondurant to go to this place to canoe. We met Dave up there and put our canoes in the water.
Jen and I rode in the front, and Dave and Dusty rode in back. First off it almost started by me spilling right off of the launch...but luckily I didn't...it would've been funny I suppose. So we went around in these circles of the wetlands and saw a lot of treese and stuff spilled in the water and the green stuff on top of the water. there were turtles, frogs, tadpoles. Lots and lots of frogs. Thee were also a few birds of various types...even a baby heron we think.
We goofed off a little...even dave and I canoed backwards for a little while, but it was a lot of fun.
We drove to dave's parent's home and stored the canoes. We met Dave's Dog, DC....which stands for Dog C(their last name), which I thought was one of the coolest names. Apprently the dog is pretty old, but is still very friendly.
Then Jen and Dusty dropped me off at home.
It's a fun day when you can spend it with friends. I even enjoyed myself.Posted by SammyD at 6:42 PM | Comments (0)
So me, Jen, Dusty, Ryan, Mikey and a friend of mikeys went down to the Art festival and spent a good chunk of the afternoon there. It was a lot of fun. I did miss my afternoon backgammon, but there's always another time for that.
We say art in various media, paint, photo, mixed, stone, metal, etc. There were these marble things that reminded me of the game of mouse trap. So the marble would go through this course and then at the end would get on a belt that would take it up to the top to do it all over again. It was fairly mezmerizing.
There were some things there that were odd, some that were kinda wierd, and a few things that just seemed a bit silly. But it was fun. I bought myself some art too. I thought it looked cool. I was amazed at how much some of the stuff could cost (from $15 to $6000+) and I suppose things like cedar aren't cheap...but I guess it just doesn't make it very accessable for a person like me.
So I got a nice little picture and I'll have to frame it so that I can put it up on my wall...I think I'll make this a yearly tradition or so...and just buy that sort of thing to add to a personal collection.
After that we went to see a cd release party for some friends of Mikey. Although Dusty, Ryan, Mikey, and his friend seemed to like it, I found it to be loud and boring...more boring. I guess I just don't enjoy that kind of music. It was certainly better then some of the music I heard down at the Vaudville Mews, but it's not really my cup of tea.
Then we headed over to Chef's corner kitchen and ate dinner. I really like that place...it really does have good food. They also had rasberry chocolate chip cookies...they were good. I had the Jack Daniels steak...ooooh...so good. I think it's the sage that just makes it taste so wonderful.
After dinner we all headed back to the crib and dinked around. Dusty bought this nead little drawing pad that you can hook up to a computer. Even though I can't draw worth a damn, it was a lot of fun.
It was a fun day...
So my birthday is coming up...and frankly I don't know what to do. I don't really want to throw a party, and I won't bead headed to Shannon's to hang out...the only thing I can really think of that I want to do is go out to eat at some place nice and come home and play monopoly. I don't know.
There are so many things that I still want to do, that as each year passes it just seems more and more lame that I haven't done them yet...Maybe because I can be so stupid about things and don't try to push things forward...
I know that I don't like change...like as a kid I didn't like changing from witing to cursive (not like my hand writing is any good anyways) or from the workbooks to actual text books...I like things to remain relatively the same...
Recently though, through the help of a particular person, I have been doing a lot of things that I wouldn't normally do. And it's really been good for me, I think. Maybe this seems silly to other people, but without other people to push me a little, I would probably just stay at home, only leaving to go to work and buy things and eat out.
I got invited to go canoeing tomarrow...and I remember having fun conoeing down rivers in the past...so it should be fun. I don't know where or when we are going, but I guess someone will call me...
So I've had these ant's invading my house recently. first they started in the back of the house and then they moved out front. I think I killed the ones in the back...and are on the way to killing the ones in the front....Frankly I was scared out of my mind though...I thought that they might be termites...and usually when you see termites it's too late anyways....but I did some reasearch and it wasn't they have a more ant like body (curvey with body sections) then termites (more straight). I don't mind the ocassional bug...but when they come in large quanities...it does get kinda annoying. So I've set out a bunch of these poison things...and then thought about getting some pest control company to come out and spray my house...I suppose that if they continue to show up, even after the poison's been down for awhile, I won't have any choice.
It did make me nervouse and make me doubt this whole buying and living and takeing care of a house...I'm so retarded about this stuff, it just seems kinda silly to me why I even started to do this.
My older brother Hyrum called to invite me to Spencer's birthday party and the birth of their new child (forced labor on monday) I don't think I can attend either...but it was nice that he invited me. I know that I'm oblivious to some of the things that go on around me, so it is kinda nice to be reminded of that.
Happy Birthday Spencer!Posted by SammyD at 12:38 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2004
So I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 with Dusty, Ryan, Chris, Holly and Jen. After standing in line for a very long time, we finally got to go into the theater (I think that the first showing had started late, so we got to start extra late). We didn't get out of the theater until a little before 12:30.
The moive started off pretty good...as Moore films go...but by the end it was getting a bit long.
It didn't change my opinion about the whole situation.
It certainly brings to light a lot of the close ties between the Saudi Royal family and the Bush Family...but as that goes...rich people do tend to hang out together.
I am curious to see how the fallout from this movie plays out.
I also got Some stuff from Homestar Runner and FBR. so that was kinda cool. They were pretty fast in their response time (considering I ordered on monday or tuesday). I wore one of my new tshirts today and it feels good to have some new clothes to wear..cause even if I do like those tie-dyed shirts they are really starting to show their age.Posted by SammyD at 1:12 AM | Comments (0)
From laught so hard. It was a great time...although one or two bits were from the show, most of it was original stuff and damn it was funny. Crackheads vs Methheads... I'm glad I went...
it's to bad more people I know couldn't have gone...oh well.
Also tonight was Holly's party. It's to bad I couldn't go, not that I was invited, but happy birthday Holly!Posted by SammyD at 12:27 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2004
So a friend of my recently had an long ago ex call (apprently the person calls every once in a while). And I'm concerned.
Not that I think it is as serious, but It reminded my of a time when my friend Lisa had an ex threaten to kill her and said that he was driving from Chicago to Ames to come get her.
She hung out at my house all day and for the next few days I walked her too and from class (taking time off of work). People can be so stupid when they think they are in love...and I'll state that it affects more then just the wackos...we all can be pretty stupid...but some people just take it too far.
I hope everything turns out for the best, and I know that I'd help in any way that I could.Posted by SammyD at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2004
So, unlike last week, there were a plethera of people at pool tonight. Seth was there when I got there (which is pretty amazing, cause I'm usually the first one there) and a little bit later Renee, Jerry and two of Renee's friends showed up, followed by Jen. It was a lot of fun...even though I lost to Seth...A lot. Jen looked a lot less sun burned then she did on saturday....I find that pretty amazing...me sunburns seem to last forever....
Yesterday my parents called...after I had called earlier in the day to wish my Dad a happy father's day. I know it's going to sound pathetic, but the only reason why I remembered that it was father's day at all was because one of the cars on Nascar's race yesterday that had an engine blow, had a happy fathers day logo on it. Talking with my parents we talked about how they had worried about decisions that I had made in the past and how that it all is turning out pretty well. Then I made a joke about how I need to do something crazy...
We also talked about my older brother and his wife and their expected child. It seems really scary to be in a situation like they are in (basically knowing they are going to loose the child) and I don't know if I could handle that.
Mom also brought up how social I was as a kid...and I remember being social...I remember introducing and making friends easily (ie next camp over at yellowstone). It really makes me wonder what happened. Why do I have such a hard time now...and why does meeting new people or talking about things where I'm not sure how other people are going to react or the like. What changed?
This past weekend I decided to do something about my sleep apnia and snoring. I was reading articles about how one could actually die from all this stuff and it made me think about how I should do something about it. Not that I'm particularly worried, considering that I've probably been living with it for years, but I think that the snoring (as loud as it can be) has got to go. Not only for myself but for the people around me.
So today I think I decided who a family partice doc will be and I've got lines on good docs in des moines that are good at dealing with sleep apnia and snoring.
Today I went to the dentist and I again had no cavities...in fact other then the first time when I had a whole crapload of work done (including all four wisdom teeth removed), I haven't had a cavity since.Posted by SammyD at 11:00 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2004
So my party went off pretty well last night. A dent was made in all the stuff that I bought, although not a huge dent...but a dent none the less.
It's too bad that some people didn't show up, I would've liked to see them....but oh well. There was a good turn out.
So Here's my kitchen before (piles of snack food):
Here's the start of the booze:
Ben was the first to arrive...but he was traveling down from Dekalb:
Ben brought me a martini shaker and two lead glass martini glases...one of which I broke while I was preparing a deli tray (stupid stupid stupid). That's was really cool. The glass is the kind that you can make sing, but rubbing the top of it with a little water.
Brandon brought over a card table and some chairs...that I put in the dining room. After that Ben and Brandon headed off to target and hyvee and brandon bought some brats and hamburgers for the grill
Seth arrived and brought me a bottle of the Remy Martin VSOP....mmmm... A little while after that Brianna arrived and Bri, Ben, Seth and I partook in the Remy.
Brandon, after going home to get ready, comes back officially and him and Val arrive.
Val and Brandon:
Brandon pours a little out for the homeys that can't be here and starts up the grill
Briana, Barbara and Tom (my realtor):
Matt and Rich Arrive. Matt brings me a bottle of Single Barrel Jack Daniels...mmm..
My boss (Proctor) arrives.
Charity and Michelle.
Dave arrives (he rode his bicycle (he lives like two blocks away)).
Charity, Kristy, Michelle, and Proctor
Bri and a sun-burned Jen.
Brandon, Dusty, and Jen
Chris and Holly on their tour of my house...well the begining of the tour.
Dave, Jerry, Rene, Jen, Bri, and Ryan (and a mean vicious game of cribbage)
Rene, Jerry, Jen, Bri, Ryan, and Sethy (with me and Jen and Ryan and Jerry playing cribbage (Jen and I wont that game (but just barely).
Ben, Val, Brandon, and Jason being rowdy (sorta) on my deck. My neighbors allowed me to barrow their deck furniture.
Dave, Rene, Jerry, Bri, Jen and the back of Ryan's head while Jen and I were playing Bri and Ryan at cribbage (they won).
That's me...cause Seth decided to take a silly picture.
Jen trying to wake up Dusty (sleeping on my floor in my spare bedroom).
The mess in the living room
What's left in the dining room (plenty of crackers but no cheese).
The kitchen...I don't think I need to say more then that.
All and all the party went off pretty well, I was pretty happy and it sounds like people did have a lot of fun, which is cool. I cleaned up a little after most everyone left and for a few hours in the morning and the house was pretty close to normal again.
Posted by SammyD at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2004
So on my way back from lunch with Seth and Brandon at Heavenly Ham (out in Clive) just in front of the Menards out there, my 1988 Honda Accord rolled over 150,000 miles. It was kinda neat to see all those numbers roll to zero. Now all I gotta do is replace that...and live will be good.
It's kinda funny how out of place my old rusty accord looks in the neighborhood. Although there are not a lot of very nice cars, most of the cars around here are newer to some extent or at least nice looking. Oh well. Hopefully it can make it a little while longer without me having to dump some major cash into it. Then I'll be able to trade up to something nicer...maybe not what I want exactly, but something nicer.Posted by SammyD at 3:10 PM | Comments (0)
so I took today off and now I'm giving my house the first really good cleaning. Which is kinda good. It's given me the drive to throw away a few boxes that were sitting in my living room and put some things where they belong.
Ben's coming down tomarrow morning and this is pretty exciting. i'm really looking forward to tomarrow night and hope that it goes off well.
I know that my house isn't too comfortable...considing I don't have a lot of places to sit down and etc...I guess with what I own now it's more suited to smaller get togethers.
Even though I took the day off, I still woke up at 6:30 and started cleaning at 7. so far I've got the main level pretty much done...with a few more things left to do. then i'll move upstairs and then down.
I also discovered this morning that I had put in the wrong account number (by one digit) for my 2nd mortgage payment. I've got a call into them (I waited on hold for 15 minutes) and they're supposed to call me back. It kinda gives me a angsty feeling, because it's my first payment and it's due monday.
So with cleaning, I've got my iPod hooked up to my stereo and got it cranked up. It makes things a bit easier.
So for the fourth a bunch of people are heading down to coralville to try the whole camping thing agian. I said i'd go. After last time, I have to give it another try just to make sure. Hopefully it does go better...even though last time was still a little fun adventure.
Oh well...enough procrastnating, back to cleaning.Posted by SammyD at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2004
So I spent a long time at Lowe's after work today. I shouldn't go to lowes by myself. Even with a list of things that I needed to get, I still ended up getting more. I got grass clippers, a cover for my grill and a power drill. I feel that if I stayed longer I probably would've bought more.
Online I had decided what I wanted in the way of deck furniture, but when I got to the store and looked at it, I wasn't really convinced that it was for me. So on with my search I suppose.
I was so excited that I could grill tonight after getting my grill up and running again (buying a new propane tank and getting a few new parts). I grilled up some brats for dinner and it was great!
I also broke out my new drill tonight and put up my window shades in the bathroom. So now I guess the neighbors behind me no longer will get thier morning show...oh well...at least it'll make some guests more comfortable.Posted by SammyD at 10:43 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2004
dancing...er...playing pool by myself
So this afternoon I took off from work early because I had an appointment with a maintaince guy to look at my Air Conditioning unit. After a little struggle he put in 2 pounds of refrigerant (out of 4.5). So I'm supposed to keep an eye on the performance. But he says that that should last me the rest of the summer. He seemed really honest and suggested that if I wanted someone more knowledgable on Bryants I should look elsewhere.
That, in and of itself, convinced me that whenever I can throw them business, I should.
So I went to the bank to get some money before I headed down to play pool. I drove up to the ATM and pulled my wallet out and to my surprise, I had left my bank card at home, so I drove home, picked it up and then drove down to Raccoon River. I played 3 games by myself, had some dinner and since no one else showed up, I went home.
Oh well.
Oh! I also got an ad today from mediacom and they are gonna have DVR's now! Wooooo! This is awesome, I've been waiting for this for a long time. Now I can record what I want and watch it when I want and not have to worry about actually being there...or staying up late for it. They are gonna come and install it Saturday afternoon.Posted by SammyD at 8:41 PM | Comments (0)
June 13, 2004
So today I went to Dahls just down the street. I had been putting it off for a good chunk of the day...So I walked in and behind me i heard a voice that i handn't herd in a long long time. It was Casey! We had all thought he was playing in the woods in the forest service or something. We talked for a bit and then I gave him my phone number. He might try to get back up here for my party.
Last night Dusty, Josh, Jen and I went to go see The Return. It was...well...interesting. It was kinda drive, but it did have a lot of the emotions that one would expect if their father had returned after being gone for 12 years. I don't think it'd be something that I suggest that everyone see...or most people. It certainly sounded good and the cinematography of the Russian wilderness was certainly beautiful. But there were so many things left hanging. Where was the dad, what was in the box, what was his job?
Oh well, after that we went to Perkins and had some food...mediocre food...but food none the less.Posted by SammyD at 6:08 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2004
So friday started off with a nice walk, followed by breakfast at the Waveland Cafe for work. We then moved over to Zanzibar for better coffee and a quieter enviroment. We talked about work related things.
I actually got to the office at around 11:00 or so. Scheduled lunch with Seth, Dusty, Jen, Josh, and James and we went to the Rock Bottom.
After doing a little work, I came home, mowed my lawn, showerd and went out to see Shrek 2 with Jen. It was a pretty good movie. I don't know if it was better then the original, as the ads have been saying, but it still was a good movie. After the movie Jen and I hung out at my house for a little bit.
So it was a good day. Good food, good company, good movie, and I just felt good...better then I normally do. These are the kind of days that are worth living for.Posted by SammyD at 7:50 AM | Comments (0)
June 9, 2004
So last night I went to Best Buy to buy a wireless bridge to attach the livingroom to my network (without havig to run a wire up there). I made the choice of my product and went to get it. So I picked it up, bought it (and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) and then brought it home to install it. when I got home I found my new grill parts on my porch (yay!).
So I went to install it. Got everything setup and went to update the firmware on it. I assumed that since I just bought it, it would have to be the latest version of the product. but it wasn't. So after trying to communicate with tech support for awhile, I finally got someone to chat with me and found out that I had version 1.1 and not version 2 of the product.
So even with the update to version 1.1, it still didn't support WPA encryption, it only supports WEP. WEP sucks. So I boxed everything up and took it back to Best buy and got my money refunded to me.
I still think that it is retarded that linksys does this. Versioning of the products. I know that the product looks the same and is basically the same, but it's just daffy. Instead of calling it the WET54G they coould call it the WET54G-2. This isn't the only time they have done this either...which makes it more annoying.
So last night, I called and left messages for Jason, ED and Jackie. Jason called me back and he'll be coming down for my party (yay). ED called me this morning while I was in the shower so I called him back when I got to work (he may come, he might have to work). and Jackie called me this morning and we spoke for awhile. I haven't seen here in a few years...so this'll be cool. She also got me the number for Bob so I'll try to call him tonight.
Yay!Posted by SammyD at 1:48 PM | Comments (0)
June 6, 2004
So Former president Reagan died yesterday. I remember being in middle school and being so hopeful for the future and seeing all this big events happening (berlin wall, fall of the soviet union, etc). He was always such a good speaker...in contrast to the current president. Now I don't know how I feel about a lot of the changes he made for the US. i remember my views back then and how much I agreed with the conservitive line that was back then.
Man have my opinions changed over the years. I could've been called a Reaganite back in the day and now my beliefs are balance between Libertarian ideals and Socially progressive....which does seem kinda silly because of the diffrence between the two.
It's also is the memorial for D-Day. I wonder if it was as clear then as it seems to be now? We have all these doubts about what we are doing over seas, but was it the same back then? Was the whole threat then clear? I watched the first part of Saving Private Ryan and I forgot how frightening that whole thing is. How do people get in put in such a position that we have to loose thousands and thousands of lives just to get them back to a relative state of normalcy?
Sometimes you just wonder how things are viewed back then.Posted by SammyD at 7:57 PM | Comments (0)
So I weeded the rocks under my bushes in my front yard, between the cracks on the sidewalk and drive way, and the weeds around the flowers on the sideyard.
It's a tough to pull out some of these weeds. The roots of some of these were longer then the plants themselves.
After weeding the flowers I had big stacks of weeds on the lawn, so to make them lesser, I broke out the mower and chopped them all up.
Last night Jen and I met over at Wal-Mart over in Windsor Heights and bought Clue (the Simpsons version) and Crainium. Normally I hate shoping at that walmart because the customer service sucks and I always feel like they don't want me there, but when you are shopping late at night (10:30PM) it is kinda tough to not go to walmart cause everything else is closed.
We then went over to the Hy-vee grocery store, that was where I used to go ALL the time for my grocerys (it was 1/2 mile from my apartment), and picked up some snacks (some carrots, celeary, and stuff not so good for you).
Then we drove to my house and met Dusty there. We played clue and Dusty won (I was pretty close to having all the clues discoverd). And in that time Mike showed up and I gave him a tour and we kinda hung out and talked about things. We talked outside, but then brought it back inside because of the misquitos. shortly after that, Jen fell asleep, curled up on the corner of my couch.
Dusty, Mike and I continued to talk and eventually put in a movie. Shortly after that everyone fell asleep. Dusty by Jen, Mike on the other side of the couch and me with my head up against the couch under where Jen was sleeping. I woke up around 3:30 or 4 in the morning and then stopped the movie, put away some of the snacks still left out...Dusty had woken up so I said good night to him and went up to my bed.
I woke up at around 9 or so and Jen and Dut were gone but Mikey was spread out on my couch (I think it had been a long time since he had slept). I think mikey finally woke up around noon, cause I saw him walk to his car and take off.
It was a fun night, even though we all ended up falling asleep.
Having a house is kind of nice. I can't wait to get my grill fixed and get some patio furniture and have people over on a semi-regular basis.Posted by SammyD at 3:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 5, 2004
So my parents came and visited my home today. They gave a positive review of it and seemed to really like it. we went down to the beaverdale shop area and I bought them (Mom, Dad, Joeseph, and Isaac) lunch at Blimpe's. They headed home.
I got home started dinking around and doing some things that have needed to be done for awhile (upgraded my WAP, changed from WEP to WPA). I got things taken care of and now I'm sitting on my couch with the laptop I have from work just writing this now.
Last night Seth and Bri saw my house for the first time. They liked it too.
I scheduled my House Warming party this week, and invited the Cribbers and a few people from work and other friends. I'm looking forward to having people over and it should be fun. I hope things go off ok. I still have to decide what I'm gonna do.
So I was looking out my window earlier and saw my next door neighbors (an older married couple) helping put some stuff in their car and then hug and off they went. I want to have a relationship like that. Someone that I can depend on and can be depended on for years and years. Many of my friends have parents that have been divorced once or twice or know people that have married once or twice. And it's kinda depressing. I'd like to think that I could be the way to be married for a long long time.
I'm also starting to worry about Shannon. I haven't heard from her in a few weeks and I'm really starting to wonder if she's ok. I wish i had her new phone number so that I could call in and check on her, to make sure she's ok.Posted by SammyD at 8:56 PM | Comments (0)
June 1, 2004
So my hedges in front of my house are starting to loose their shape, so I decided to trim them.
I got these hedge trimming clippers (non-powered) when I got my lawn mower. so I started cutting...How does one keep it in a straight or curved line to get the shape desired? I don't know...they are trimmed...I guess...but they probably need to be touched up and evened out.Posted by SammyD at 6:42 PM | Comments (0)
So I finally finished putting everything away.
So now I think all I need to do is get curtains up in the bathrooms and i'll be done for a while.
It's kinda cool to have it finally done.
Now I guess I just need to start cleaning on a regular basis. I know the rooms need to be swept.Posted by SammyD at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
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